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ADDRESSKS 



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OF 






C6 Hon. NORMAN J. COLMAN, 



Dr. D. E. SALMON", 

Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 



ATiONAL Cattle Growers' Convention 




U. S. Commissioner of Agriculture, 



and 



delivered before the 



HELD AT 



KANSAS CITY, M0. 5 



OCTOBER 31 and NOVEMBER 1-2, 1887. 



WASHINGTON: 

ERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1887. 




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ADDRESSES 



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OF 



Hon. NOEMAN jr&LMAN 



U. S. Commissioner of Agriculture, 



AND 



Dr.'Df E. SALMON", 

i 

Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



National Cattle Growers' Convention 



HELD AT 



KANSAS CITY, MO., 



OCTOBEE 31 and ^OVEMBEB 1-2, 1887. 



WASHINGTON: 
Government Printing Office. 



1887 



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D. or a 



ADDEESS 



OF 



Hon. NORMAN J. COLMAN, 

17. S. Commissioner of Agriculture. 



Gentlemen of the Convention: It gives me great pleasure to meet you all, 
representing, as you do, one of the most important industries in the country, esti- 
mated in value at $1,200,000,000. I am glad to meet you, and to tell you something 
of what I have endeavored to accomplish in my official capacity to protect your 
interests and the cattle interests of the country. 

When I accepted my present position I determined to do what I could towards 
advancing the cattle interests in a legitimate way, and if my endeavors have met 
your approval I heartily appreciate it. I am aware that the clouds of misfortune 
now hang over the cattle industry, still I perceive a silver lining to the clouds. I 
am satisfied, from all I can see and from all the information I can obtain, that the 
return of the industry to a prosperous condition is certain. The enormous increase 
in the population of the country must create a demand for beef that is bound to 
bring back prosperity to the industry. 

I have prepared a brief statement which I wish to submit to you, showing what 
has been done by the Department with which I am identified towards the eradication 
of contagious diseases among cattle, and particularly towards the suppression of the 
disease known as pleuro-pneumonia. 

Among the subjects of greatest importance to the industry which you represent 
there is nothing which concerns you more than that of contagious pleuro-pneumonia 
among cattle. This insidious disease, which has so seriously injured the cattle inter- 
ests of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the whole Continent of Europe, has, as you 
know, secured a foothold in this country, and is now threatening the great cattle 
industry of the United States. As this subject is one of such peculiar interest to you, 
and as Congress has placed the work of suppressing this plague in charge of a Bureau 
that is under my supervision, it will be appropriate for me to make a statement, semi- 
officially in character, of the means that have been adopted and the work that has 
been done to secure the extirpation of this plague. 

The act of Congress creating the Bureau of Animal Industry was deficient in 
several particulars. It limited the number of employes to twenty (20) ;• it gave no 
power to destroy diseased or exposed animals ; it limited the expenditure of money 
to quarantining and disinfecting herds and premises in States whose executive officers 
would co-operate with the Bureau of Animal Industry; it appropriated an amount of 
money insufficient to accomplish any practical results ; and lastly, it failed to provide 
proper penalties for the enforcement of the means adopted to extirpate this disease. 
It was hoped that these defects would be corrected at the last session of Congress, 
but the unfortunate division of sentiment between the two different measures appar- 
ently prevented legislation which might otherwise have been obtained. The friends 
of the Bureau of Animal Industry, however, succeeded in obtaining at the very close 
of the session an appropriation of $500,000, the first that has been sufficiently large 
to be of practical use in stamping out disease, and at the same time some additional 



authority was conferred upon the Bureau in the appropriating act. The limit to the 
number of employes was removed, the right to kill both diseased and exposed animals 
was granted, and money could be expended in States even though the authorities 
failed to co-operate with the Bureau. 

Immediately after the passage of this act, and in consultation with the Chief of the 
Bureau of Animal Industry, I prepared rales and regulations for the suppression of 
contagious pleuro-pneumonia, in accordance with section 3 of the act of Congress 
approved May 29, 1884; and these rules and regulations, by virtue of the authority 
contained in that section, became of equal force as if made by Congress itself. These 
rules 1 certified to the governors of all the States and Territories, and asked their 
co-operation in enforcing them. The governors of thirty-one States and Territories 
accepted these rules and regulations, and promised the assistance of the police officers 
of their respective States and Territories to secure their enforcement. 

To further strengthen the hands of the Bureau in accomplishing its work, I 
suggested to the legislatures of several States then in session an act providing for 
State co-operation by placing the work in charge of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 
and providing penalties for violation of any quarantine regulations that might be 
made. The bill that I suggested was considered favorably and became a law in the 
States of Rhode Island, Virginia, New York, and Illinois. So much for what has been 
done in securing authority and power to carry on this work. I will now tell yon 
what work has actually been done toward suppressing the disease. 

I placed in quarantine Cook county, 111., on the 24th day of May, 1887. On the 
same day I placed in quarantine the counties of Baltimore, Howard, Carroll, and 
Prince George, in the State of Maryland, and the counties of New York, "Westchester, 
Kings, Queens, Suffolk, and Richmond, in the State of New York. As Cook county, 
111., was the point of greatest danger to the cattle industry, I placed in charge of the 
work there Professor James Law, professor of veterinary medicine in Cornell Uni- 
versity, and State veterinarian of the State of New York. In Maryland the work 
was in charge of Doctor Wray, and in New York in charge of Doctors McLean and 
Bell. 

At the time of making these quarantines I issued a circular letter to all of the rail- 
road companies throughout the United States, requesting their co-operation with the 
Bureau, and suggesting the most effective way in which they could be useful in 
assisting us to suppress pleuro-pneumonia and prevent its spread. And I am pleased 
to state that very effective assistance has been rendered us by the railroad compa- 
nies, and in every instance we find them refusing to ship any cattle from quaran- 
tined districts without permits given by our inspectors. They also show a disposi- 
tion to keep their cattle-cars cleaner and in better condition than formerly. During 
the past year, from January 1 to October 15, inspectors of the Bureau of Animal 
Industry have examined 12,655 herds of cattle. These herds contained 92,696 head. 
During the same period of time they placed in special quarantine 478 herds, contain- 
ing 6,956 animals, and 1,209 of these animals were found diseased. This statement 
does not include the animals quarantined in the city of Chicago. There have been 
killed and post-mortem examinations made of 7,741 head of cattle, and 1,572 of these 
animals were, on post-mortem examination, found to be affected with contagious 
pleuro-pneumonia. These figures represent the total work of the Bureau in all the 
quarantined districts. 

And now as to the work done in the respective quarantine counties. This work 
in Cook county, 111., was, as I have stated, placed in charge of Professor Law, of 
New York State. This gentleman needs no words of praise from me either as to his 
ability or character. His reputation is national, and the result of his work in Chi- 
cago is my best indorsement for having assigned him this task. With the hearty 
and active co-operation of the State officers of Illinois, the Bureau during the last six 
months established a thorough and effective quarantine in Chicago. Every bovine 
animal was inspected and tagged ; not a cow could be moved from one stable to an- 



other, or through the streets, or on the commons, without a permit from the officers 
of the Bureau. Not an animal was allowed to enter or leave the quarantined district 
without such a permit. As quickly as diseased animals were found they were 
slaughtered, as well as all animals with which they had come in contact. When 
premises were cleared of stock, they were thoroughly disinfected by the Bureau's 
disinfecting corps. As a result of this work, carefully, thoroughly, and systematic- 
ally performed, I am able to-day to state to you that pleuro-pneumonia has been 
successfully stamped out of Cook county, 111., and there is no longer any danger to 
be feared from that locality. The quarantine will be removed about the 1st of 
December, aud the thanks of the cattlemen of the country are due to Dr. Salmon, 
Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry ; to Professor Law, and to the State Board of 
Illinois for this successful termination of their work in Chicago. The total number 
of herds examined in Chicago since January 1, of the present year, is 6,652, and the 
number of animals is 22,117. A total of 1,607 cattle were killed and 319 found 
diseased. 

While Chicago, being in the heart of the cattle district and a great distributing 
center, has seemed to be the greatest point of danger, the States of Maryland and 
New York are in reality the great hot-beds of contagious pleuro-pneumonia in this 
country. For years it has existed in Maryland, and defied all efforts of the State 
authorities to stamp it out. In New York State, the cities of New York and Brook- 
lyn and their suburbs are plague-spots that have been infected for more than forty 
years, and from which the disease has again and again spread to other parts of the 
country. 

In Maryland, to-day, we have the disease under control. The same system of 
quarantine that was enforced in Chicago is being established in Baltimore. Pro- 
fessor Law is at present reorganizing the work in that city, and it will be done as 
thoroughly as is possible. As the disease exists there to a greater extent than it 
did in Chicago, and as the contagion is, as I might say, " rooted in the soil," it will 
take a much longer time to effectually stamp it out. What has already been done 
since January 1st is shown by the following figures : 

Three thousand eight hundred and fifty-fi^e herds have been examined, number- 
ing 15,387 head of cattle; 298 herds have been placed in special quarantine, both 
State and National, and 3,808 animals, forming these herds, have been locked and 
chained. Eight hundred and fifty-three of these animals were diagnosed as being 
diseased. We have purchased and killed in Maryland 2,221 animals, and 951 of 
these on post-mortem examination were found to have contagious pleuro-pneumonia. 

The disease in Maryland to day is practically confined to the county of Baltimore. 
We believe we have succeeded in stamping it out in the counties of Howard, Carroll, 
and Prince George, but the quarantine of these counties will be maintained until 
" assurance" has been made " doubly sure." 

In Virginia and the District of Columbia the Bureau has failed to find any pleuro- 
pneumonia during the past year. Some 3,675 animals were examined and none 
showed any symptoms of the disease. 

In New Jersey some cases of pleuro-pneumonia have been found. Nearly 10,000 
animals have been examined and 561 of them placed in quarantine; 62 animals 
have been slaughtered, 31 of them having the plague. The Bureau and the State 
officers are working in harmony, and all precautions are being taken to promptly 
destroy every herd among which the disease may be found. The ferries and water 
fronts of Jersey City are carefully guarded to prevent stock coming into the State 
from the infected districts of New York. 

The outbreaks found in New Jersey have been mostly traced to animals brought 
into the State from the infected districts of New York. This importation of cattle 
is now being watched, and it is thought further outbreaks from this source will be 
prevented. 

In New York State fresh outbreaks of pleuro-pneumonia have occurred during the 



6 

year in Delaware and Washington counties. The infected herds in these counties 
were promptly seized by the officers of the Bureau and the plague was quickly 
stamped out. In both instances the disease was traced to cattle purchased at the 
stockyards of New York city. Since that time the county of New York has been 
placed under a strict quarantine, and we hope to prevent any more outbreaks from 
this source. The act of the legislature of New York, together with an executive 
order made by the governor of the State, places the work completely in the hands of 
the Bureau of Animal Industry. It is made a misdemeanor to move any bovine animal 
out of the quarantined districts without permits from the officers of this Bureau. 
You can see, therefore, that we have all the necessary authority and penalties to 
carry on the work successfully in New York. So far there have been examined in 
New York State 11,234 animals, and 848 animals have been slaughtered, 238 of 
them being diseased. 

I have thus, gentlemen, briefly sketched for you the work of the Bureau of Animal 
Industry for the year 1887. I might summarize it by saying that pleuropneu- 
monia has been stamped out of Chicago, 111., out of the counties of Delaware 
and Washington, State of New York, and the counties of Howard, Carroll, and Prince 
George, in Maryland; and that it is under control in Baltimore, Md., and in the re- 
maining infected districts in the State of New York. The Bureau at present has all 
the authority and law necessary for it to successfully handle the disease in the 
States where it exists, and the most important thing that remains to be done in 
the way of legislation is to obtain " the sinews of war" for next year in the shape of 
a sufficient appropriation that may be used for the same purposes as that given for 
the current year. It is true that some amendments are needed to the animal industry 
law, but with an appropriation clause such as we are now working under, such 
amendments are not essential to the success of the pleuro-pneumonia work. Any 
new legislation urged by the friends of this work should be first considered with the 
greatest possible care. It would be far better to have no additional legislation of 
this character than to secure that which would cripple the work now in such active 
progress and having such prospects of success. I trust that the Convention will 
consider this subject with deliberation, and I promise you my sincerest efforts in the 
future, as in the past, to bring about the speedy extermination of this dangerous 
plague. 

In conclusion, gentlemen, I will state that I have not alluded to the fact that I 
have extirpated the disease in my own State of Missouri. Brought into the State by 
a bull shipped from Illinois, it cost the cattle industry of the State more than 
$1,000,000 before it was successfully stamped out. Nor have I mentioned Kentucky, 
where it cost the cattle industry of that State $2,000,000 before its final eradication 
by the combined action of the State and National authorities. 

This disease came by importation from Europe. In Great Britain alone, in the 
last forty-five years $500,000,000 worth of cattle have been affected by it. Measures 
have been taken to stamp out the disease there, but the attempt has been ineffectual, 
not because the laws were not strong enough, but because of the tender-footedness 
of the authorities having the enforcement of the laws, and the result is it exists 
there to-day to an alarming extent, and there is no telling when it will be wiped out. 

In Scotland the disease has prevailed to such an extent that our Government has 
prohibited further importations from that country. The plague was brought to the 
Canadian quarantine station near Quebec, and when it was discovered, the cattle 
were not only killed but the stables in which they had been kept were burned to the 
ground. In this way the disease was immediately stamped out and the commerce of 
the country was saved from injurious restrictions. I believe this disease needs and 
requires heroic treatment. If my life is spared, I am determined to so push the work 
of extirpation that before the expiration of my term of office it can be said that not 
a trace of this dread disease exists within our borders. When this is accomplished 
it might be well to prohibit all importations from Great Britain if not from the whole 
of Europe. 



1DDEESS 



OF 



Dr. D. E. SALMON, 

Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry. 



Gentlemen of the Convention: — The outbreak of pleuro-pneumonia at Chicago 
is at an end. The quarantine restrictions on Cook county will soon be removed. 
Once more we are able to say that this dreaded disease has been stamped out wher- 
ever found iu the States west of the Alleghany Mountains. The three and a quarter 
years which have passed since the first discovery of this Old World plague upon the 
soil of Illinois have been years of apprehension, of burdensome restrictions upon 
trade, and of disastrous losses to the stock interests of the affected States. They 
mark an era in the history of cattle raising in the Mississippi Valley. With the ex- 
termination of so dangerous a pest from a great section of country it is the perfection 
of wisdom to review the struggle and to draw lessons therefrom, to save us if possi- 
ble from a repetition of the evil visitation. 

For three years and a half pleuro-pneumonia existed continuously west of the 
Alleghanies ; five States were invaded and more than 6,000 animals were exposed. 
This means that the outbreak was of great proportions, and, considering the territory 
involved and the number of animals affected, I think we may safely say it is greater 
than has ever been suppressed in the same length of time in any other country, even 
under the most perfect laws. 

Our difficulties in managing this outbreak have been enormous and extremely 
worrying. Some of the affected States had no laws to meet the emergency;' in the 
other States the statutes were very imperfect ; under the national law we could not 
maintain a quarantine within a State ; we could not make an inspection without the 
owner's consent ; for over a year we could not slaughter animals ; for another year 
we could only slaughter diseased animals, and only since last March have we been 
able to slaughter and compensate for both diseased and exposed animals. Imperfect 
laws, however, have not been our only source of trouble. Incomprehensible as it is, 
here in this western country, where prosperity depends upon the cattle industry, we 
have been compelled to meet the opposition of many whose property we were trying 
to protect. We have not been met in all quarters as friends striving to protect the 
country from a great calamity, but we have been denounced as enemies; our profes- 
sional reputations and our honor have alike been attacked; the people with whom 
we came in contact have been incited to oppose us — criticism, abuse, villification, all 
have been used to prevent the passage of proper legislation. And this has not come 
alone from individuals, but companies, associations, and newspapers — including jour- 
nals which pretend to represent farmers and stock raisers, have united to oppose the 
Bureau of Animal Industry and to prevent the extirpation of pleuro-pneumonia. It 
must always remain one of the most remarkable things connected with this outbreak 
that respectable men could be found to talk and write against those who were fighting 
the scourge, and in favor of the rascals who were scattering the contagion, and who 
were selling in the market the carcasses of diseased cattle. 

In spite of active opposition and of defective laws we have won at last. Every 
plague-spot that has been discovered has been closed up, and we have no reason to 
believe that there is an affected animal or an infected building west of the Alleghany 
Mountains. Our quarantine against Cook county will be maintained but a few 
weeks longer — and that to make assurance doubly sure. To the veterinarians who 

(7) 



8 

have labored in the field, who have quietly taken abuse and faced danger from the 
most lawless part of Chicago's population, but whose names have scarcely been 
mentioned, the country — and especially the western States and Territories — owe a 
debt of lasting gratitude. The history of the Chicago outbreak may be very 
very briefly summarized. The first case was discovered September 12, 1886, and the 
last sign of the plague was found in a cow killed September 10, 1887.* During 
that time 7,153 herds of cattle were inspected, containing 23,698 animals. Post- 
mortem examinations were made on the carcasses of 7,103 animals, of which 1,425 
were affected with pleuro-pneumonia. The total number of cattle slaughtered by 
the Bureau of Animal Industry, because exposed or supposed to have been exposed 
to the plague, is 969, of which 172 were affected with pleuro-pneumonia. The total 
expense paid by the Bureau to October 25 was $66,108.92, of which $3,179.53 was for 
diseased cattle and $13,339.84 was for exposed cattle. 

There are some very important lessons which may be drawn from the history of 
this outbreak, and, though not entirely new to those who have stndied similar out- 
breaks of the same plague in other sections, they should be of peculiar interest to 
our American stockmen, so many of whom refuse to learn, except by their own 
experience. 

The first lesson is this: The quickest, the most thorough, the most radical method 
of stamping out pleuro-pneumonia is not only the best but the cheapest. With such 
measures less than six months were sufficient to extirpate the disease from Chicago, 
to remove all danger to the remainder of the State and the country, and to place us 
in a position to ask for the removal of commercial restrictions. There was not a 
single month of that time that did not cost the stock raisers of Illinois, by depre- 
ciation of the value of stock that was sold, at least twice the total expense of 
stamping out the disease. During the first seven months that elapsed after the 
plague was discovered, partly for the lack of proper laws and partly because there 
was not that hearty co-operation between the State and National officials which 
there should have been, and perhaps for some other reasons, little effective work 
was done, except to guard the distilleries and slaughter the cattle that were in them. 
The loss to the country by the effect on trade and by restrictions on commerce during 
this period of partial inactivity was many times the actual expense of stamping out 
the plague. To have adopted any other method than immediate slaughter of all 
diseased and % exposed cattle would certainly have extended the work for months, 
and probably for years, if indeed it could ever have been finished. And yet some of 
our editors, our stock dealers, and even some of our members of Congress, have pro- 
tested against this radical measure and have tried to prevail upon us to temporize, 
to doctor the diseased animals, and to depend upon quarantine. It is only another 
illustration that those who know nothing about a subject are most unsafe advisers. 

The second lesson to which I direct your attention is the constant danger to The 
whole country while this contagion is allowed to exist in any part of it. Many 
times before pleuro-pneumonia reached the Mississippi Valley you were warned of 
the danger. But twenty, thirty, even forty years passed, and many said, "It is the 
old cry of wolves, to frighten the shepherd." You even doubted if there was any 
pleuro-pneumonia in the country. And then one summer morning you read in your 
papers that three Western States were certainly infected, and the contagion was 
being scattered over the cattle region of the interior. That was a rude awakening. 

* After the delivery of this address the accuracy of this date was called in question. The difference of 
opinion was evidently due to the fact that while the last case of acute disease was discovered on July 28, I 
referred to the last case in which chronic lesions of the disease were found. Four cases showing such lesions 
were found during September— one on the 5th, two on the 9th, and one on the 10th. I was in Chicago Sep- 
tember 5, and saw the lungs of the affected cow killed on that day. It was a typical case of chronic pleuro- 
pneumonia, with adherent lung containing a cyst in which fairly well-preserved lung tissue was still to be 
seen. The particular animal referred to as having been killed September 10 was a cow belonging to Julian 
Bach, 91 Julian street, Chicago, which was reported as having "pleuritic adhesions on left side and main and 

anterior lobes attached to pericardium." 

P. E. SALMON. 



9 

For six months the plague had been near you and you did not suspect its presence. 
And just here many men, through ignorance of the facts, reach wrong conclusions. 
They say if the disease were as dangerous as reported it could never have been 
stamped out after remaining unrestricted for half a year. They remember, of course, 
that it existed scarcely longer than that in England before it was recognized, and 
that it remains there to-day, in spite of the greatest exertions to eradicate it. The 
difference in the two cases is just here: We had a system of railroads and telegraphs 
reaching to all parts of the country, which England did not have in 1842. More 
than that, we had a Bureau of Animal Industry with a liberal appropriation at its 
disposal for investigation. This England did not have, nor did she have any law 
to control the disease for twenty-five years after its introduction, and during this 
time it became too widely scattered, too thoroughly fixed, to be stamped out without 
more thorough measures than have ever been enforced there. Let me repeat, there- 
fore, that the outbreak of 1884 has been suppressed only because we had money and 
men to investigate its location, and railroads and telegraphs by which we could trace 
affected animals across hundreds of miles of territory within a few hours. 

The third lesson is the serious extent to which such an insidious disease may spread 
before it is discovered. The outbreak of 1884, which extended into four States and 
had existed more than six months before any trace of it came to light, is a very 
instructive example. Its progress for two years in the great live-stock center of the 
continent is a still more alarming demonstration of its nature. To the veterinarian 
such facts are not surprising. They are simply history repeating itself. The same 
thing occurred when various departments of France were infected, and was repeated 
in England. In a number of the great cities of Europe the disease was only dis- 
covered when it had made too great progress to be controlled. In a country of enor- 
mous territory like ours it is impossible to watch any considerable portion of it, and, 
consequently, our only safety is to exterminate the plague completely from our con- 
tinent. 

The fourth lesson which I see relates to the great inconvenience and loss to the 
affected State and to the nation from such outbreaks of disease in the West. Its 
presence in Illinois led to a prohibition of the movement of cattle from Illinois to 
many of the other States and Territories of the Union. It led to quarantine restric- 
tions by the Canadian Government against all cattle from our country. It strength- 
ened the Government of Great Britain in its policy of killing all American cattle at 
the docks where they are landed. It ruined the market for Illinois cattle for breed- 
ing purposes outside of the State. It induced the purchasers of store cattle to go to 
other markets than Chicago, thus disturbing an established trade and unsettling 
values. It created an unnatural demand for store cattle at other points, and led to 
the importation of such stock from Canada to fill that demand, thereby developing a 
competing trade liable to increase and do much future injury. The effects, therefore, 
have been far-reaching, even disastrous to many, and we can only regard such an 
outbreak as a calamity to the cattle industry, a repetition of which should be pre- 
vented if human foresight can accomplish such prevention. The magnitude of this 
loss in dollars and cents can never be given with accuracy; we only know that it 
reaches millions, and probably tens of millions of dollars. 

The fifth lesson which 1 would impress upon you is the necessity for immediate and 
thorough work when this plague is first seen in a State. Such work in 1884 would 
probably have entirely exterminated the contagion and prevented the Chicago out- 
break. But you doubtless remember the circumstances. The Bureau of Animal 
Industry had just been established. It had very little power within a State, and there 
were doubts in the mind of the then Commissioner, Dr. Loring, as to whether it had 
any such power ; its force was limited to twenty men for the whole country ; it had 
no authority to kill an animal, except for purposes of investigation; it could not send 
an inspector into a single stable or herd to investigate without the owner's consent. 
In the State of Illinois there was an imperfect law, small appropriation, a single 



10 

official veterinarian, who was expected to devote the greater part of his time to the 
glanders of horses. So much, then, for the law and the available force. 

There was something else in Illinois. We were met there by an exceedingly hostile 
sentiment. There was no hesitation in denouncing our veterinarians as quacks and 
impostors ; the report of pleuro-pneumonia was stigmatized as a falsehood, and delay 
and experimentation were demanded before any conclusion was reached. This delay 
I protested against ; their experiments I refused to make because I knew the danger in 
maintaining the contagion in the vicinity of Chicago. By this refusal I gave dissatis- 
faction to Commissioner Loring and to many cattle men. The demand for experiments 
was repeated to the governor of Illinois and agreed to by him, but it was afterwards 
found to be a dangerous and impracticable scheme and the experiments were never 
made. But this discussion and hesitation engendered doubt, and doubt led to delay, 
and delay enabled the owners of infected herds to dispose of their animals. From 
all the facts which I have been able to gather, I have no doubt that cows from infected 
herds were sold to the distillery stables of Chicago in the fall of 1884, and that this 
started the great outbreak which has just been stamped out. I have no time to 
dwell upon this question, but the fact cannot be too strongly emphasized that prompt- 
ness and thoroughness are essential to any successful work for the eradication of the 
contagious lung plague of cattle. 

Another lesson which impresses itself upon me is the difficulty of securing new and 
radical legislation, even when confronted by a great emergency. At the convention 
held at Chicago last year there was not a man who did not feel the importance and 
urgent necessity of immediate legislation which would enable the officers of the Nation al 
Government to go wherever this malady was known to exist, and to exterminate it 
by the most heroic measures. At that time we knew that the very existence of a 
successful cattle industry in the United States was imperiled, trade was already 
interrupted, and consumers were questioning the quality of their food supply. An 
able and energetic committee was sent to Washington to lay these facts before Con- 
gress, and although they did not ask for the kind of legislation which I believed 
could be most easily obtained, it is unquestionable that after they decided upon their 
plan they labored with great intelligence and zeal to secure the passage of their bill. 
The fact that this bill did not become a law, even Avhen legislation was so sadly needed, 
adds to the evidence accumulated in former years that a great work of this kind is 
not legislated into a perfect existence at a single stroke. A little must be gained at 
a time, and that little must be held and added to. And this leads me to suspect that 
those who secured the establishment of the Bureau of Animal Industry in the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture " builded more wisely than they knew." They put the work 
upon a permanent basis, they provided a force, small though it might be, which 
would always be ready and in the field. This force when not engaged in stamping 
out an epizootic disease could be utilized in investigations of great value to the 
stock-raisers ; and like the steam fire-engines which stand in the engine-houses of our 
cities, with the water hot in the boilers and the fuel ready to ignite, they would 
always be ready to run to a fire and put it out. That, it seems to me, is the ideal of 
a veterinary sanitary organization. 

The seventh and last lesson which I shall attempt to draw from this outbreak is 
that to secure the prompt and thorough extirpation of contagious pleuro-pnenmonia 
the work must be directed by veterinarians, who alone are to be responsible for the 
diagnosis of the disease and the measures adopted for its control. I could not avoid 
seeing that the Illinois Live Stock Commission felt a responsibility, and had a respon- 
sibility resting upon them in connection with the decision of strictly r>rofessional 
questions, which should not be placed upon a board of business men. Now, it seems 
to me that many people make a mistake in not properly discriminating between 
professional questions and business questions. They ask for a commission of business 
men to stamp out contagious diseases, and expect them to do it with veterinarians 
as simply advisory officers or subordinates. The first question such a commission 



11 

must face when it goes to stamp out an outbreak of pleuro-pueumonia is a profes- 
sional question — is the disease really pleuro-piieumonia or some other disease ? And 
they have no method under heaven of solving this question, except to take the opinion 
of a subordinate — in other words, a veterinarian. The next question which comes 
before such a commission is equally a professional question, viz: what measures are 
necessary to control this outbreak? How can a business man be expected to know 
what animals have been so exposed that they should be slaughtered, or what districts 
should be quarantined, and for how long a time, or what measures of disinfection are 
necessary, and what agents should be used to accomplish this? These are all profes- 
sional questions, and they are the leading questions in this work; the business ques- 
tions are questions of detail ; they are secondary questions ; they relate to the methods 
of appraisal; of selling healthy carcasses; of enforcing the law and the regulations; 
of managing legal proceedings liable to arise; of dealing with financial questions; of 
handling individuals who try to obstruct the work, and many other complications 
continually arising in practical work of this nature. When, therefore, business men 
are called upon to direct the work of stamping out pleuro-pneumonia, and to decide 
the leading questions, the cart is put before the horse; the men who are responsible 
for the decisions do not make them, nor are they the judges of the evidence upon 
which they are made, and must necessarily be uncertain, hesitating, and wavering in 
cases where great interests are at stake. 

In saying this I do not wish to be understood as in the least underestimating the 
value of the services of business men in connection with business questions. I 
take pleasure in expressing my very high appreciation of the services rendered 
by the Illinois Commission in this way. Their services were invaluable, and have 
done much to convince me that co-operation between the State Commissions and the 
National Bureau have many advantages which are not to be overlooked. 

The present National law has been pronounced imperfect by almost every one, but, 
it seems to me, that the very fact of so much being accomplished under it shows that 
the principle is a good one; that those who have been working under it have done 
their duty, and that it is far better to strengthen and perfect it than to throw away 
all that has been accomplished in the past and begin again upon an entirely different 
plan. It has taken ten years of hard and constant labor to reach the position which 
we now occupy; our National law has been supplemented in the infected States with 
State legislation ; our force is in the field ; as your Secretary has well said, "the out- 
posts of the enemy have been carried;" and I might add that the strongholds are 
besieged, and we are now preparing for the final assault upon them. Is it not unpar- 
alleled to call a victorious army from the field when it has reached such a position 
and to substitute a new force, organized upon different principles, to fight upon a 
new plan, and to be commanded by untried officers ? 

Gentlemen, the subject of my address was assigned to me by the executive com- 
mittee ; it is not exactly the topic which I would have chosen, but I have endeavored 
to cover the most important points that suggested themselves to me. It only remains 
for me to thank you for your kind attention and for the uniform courtesy that has 
been shown me by the cattle growers of America. 



LBJe 



